Nottingham Beer Festival 2011 – Preview

Attention lovers of all things hoppy and malty! Nottingham’s annual CAMRA beer festival is here. To be held in the grounds of Nottingham Castle for the fourth time, the 35th edition promises to be yet another world record-breaking event. Claiming to have the world’s largest selection of real ale, including everything pale to mild, there will undoubtedly be a huge range on offer for the discerning drinker. Set up by the pioneers of the ‘LOCALE’ Campaign, at least a quarter of the beers available will be from breweries based in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and in and around the East Midlands, featuring many popular favourites such as Blue Monkey and Castle Rock.

The 2011 Robin Hood beer festival is set to have over 900 cask ales, and with last year’s total attendance exceeding 21,000, a busy week ahead is expected. To help with efficiency of service a token system is used, with no cash exchanged at the bars. Different the value of tokens equates to things like glass size (halves, thirds and full pints are available) as well as alcoholic strength. So one token might get you a half of standard 4/5% ale, whereas 4 tokens could get you a pint of something stronger. Of course both IMPACT and The Nottingham Robin Hood Beer Festival encourage you to drink responsibly…

IMPACT will be there tomorrow, and we will post our thoughts and opinions after sampling some of the product on offer – we’ll let you know if this year is as good as previous incarnations! This is a superbly organised event that does Nottingham and the East Midlands proud. Check it out if you fancy a break from the inevitable early stress of October at uni. So if you reckon you’re a stout kinda guy (sorry) then we’ll see you there.

Thursday 13th – Saturday 15th October (Note: The Festival occasionally extends into Sunday if there is a lot of stock left over!)